Network Rail boss claims deal within ‘touching distance’ as five days of strikes begin – business live

Most UK train services out of action as tens of thousands of railway workers walk out; transport secretary denies blocking a deal

Here is our full story on the Network Rail’s chief negotiator, Tim Shoveller, claiming that a deal to stop rail strikes is “in touching distance,” as drivers and staff staged a walkout on the first of five consecutive days of national rail strikes.

The UK transport secretary, Mark Harper, has argued that the government is doing what it can to bring the rail dispute and strikes over pay, jobs and working conditions to an end.

I tried to change the tone of the discussions and I also made sure there was a new and improved pay offer that went to the trade unions, and two of the trade unions have accepted that offer on Network Rail. It’s disappointing the RMT recommended to its members that they not accept it and are continuing to have strikes.

And we had meetings, the rail minister met with the employers, the train operating companies and Network Rail, and the unions before Christmas. We’ve got more meetings scheduled next week and we’re very much trying to facilitate getting a settlement to this dispute rather than sitting on our hands.

What they’ve got to do is thrash out with the trade unions reforms to the some of the outdated working practices. It’s perfectly reasonable that you get rid of some of the outdated practices so we can have people contracted to work on a Sunday so that we can have dependable services to rail users.

We’re not going to get those discussions to hammer out those reforms unless the trade unions get off the picket line and back around the table. But the offer that gets made to them…has to be fair to the taxpayer.

There has to be a fair, balanced offer for taxpayers as well. There is not a bottomless pit of taxpayers’ money to throw at this problem. There is a fair and reasonable offer on the table that is comparable to the sort of pay deals that people are getting across the economy and we’ve got to have some reform in the industry.